Posted By Jack_HSEA
Hi,

I am in the first week of my job as a HSEA specialist at Network Rail.

I have joined the company off the back of a year long MSc in Project Enterprise Management at UCL, and chose to enter into NR in the HSEA function. Some people have frowned at this decision, as i could of started as a Scheme project manager which is a band higher and more responsibility.

My initial thoughts of large HSEA departments in large companies were that they had the vision and freedom to access all levels of the organisation, which seems to be true, but i have no experience or idea of what career path to now follow in HSEA.

I would like to eventually develop some sort of specialism on a particular subject in HSEA and consult on this in the longer term, and on the shorter term i need advice on which areas are more beneficial, enjoyable and financially rewarding - Health and Safety? Environment or Assurance are all teams i could eventually join?

Any advice on training, suggestions on career development or objectives are warmly appreciated, as i need to set these directions pretty soon.

I work in both the project and HSEQ fields and in my experience you do indeed have a much higher earning potential if you take the project direction.

In favour of H&S it’s an ideal foundation for anyone starting out on a career, a highly-transferable skill, and far less stressful, but do prepare to be far more frustrated...!

If your end goal is consultancy I’d start to develop your HSE training and presentation competencies which are always in demand and part of any good H&S professionals tool kit.

Many I’m sure will disagree with this last comment (if not all of them) however I’d be more inclined to go down the QA front then that of environmental. QA I find is much more of a standalone discipline and so less likely to be come across during the everyday H&S professionals work, whereas the environmental fundamentals you will often be exposed, regardless if it’s your specialist field or not.

At the end of the day I’d go with what interests you most now, if you are enjoying the subject you are more likely to succeed in the long run.